Landmarks of the Future talk, April 10

On Thursday, April 10 at 7:30 p.m., I'll be giving a presentation for Historic Pittsford titled "Landmarks of the Future: Preserving Resources of the Recent Past." The talk, which is free and open to to the public, will be at Christ Episcopal Church, at 36 S. Main Street.

I'm looking forward to talking about mid-century modern architecture in my hometown, which is not exactly a hotbed of modernist design. There are a few interesting modern buildings here and there, but Pittsford was decidedly hostile to the streamlined look of modern buildings in the mid-20th century. I found an interesting newspaper article from 1961 describing the so-called "Pittsford Revival Movement," in which old buildings on Main Street in the village were torn down to make way for "handsome brick structures of Early American design;" this project was described as "the most ambitious progress to date in the effort to restore and extend the oldtime feeling of the central village."

I'm going to be giving the audience a very, very brief and superficial overview of mid-20th century architecture, with the hope of helping them appreciate some of the features they see in buildings of that vintage, followed by an examination of some interesting preservation controversies from around the country and closer to home.

If you're a fan of 20th-century architecture, I'd love to see you there!

Posted by Katie Eggers Comeau, Advocacy Coordinator